Bus crash victim laid to rest

WITH tears streaming down his face, Ramdial Baboolal stood for several minutes in front the coffin with his wife’s body.

Relatives hugged him tightly as he cried silently. The 69-year-old man was too distraught to speak. “Everything is going to be okay,” one relative said hugging him. He nodded his head as he continued to stare at a photograph of his wife on top of the closed coffin. The funeral was held at the family’s Congo Village, Debe home yesterday morning.

On Tuesday morning Ramdial’s wife Tara Baboolal, 66, and another passenger Judy Clarke, 61, of Diego Martin were killed while travelling to Port of Spain in a PTSC bus on the Uriah Butler Highway in Chaguanas. The driver of a dump truck was heading south when one of his tyres blew out, causing him to lose control. The truck started spinning in the road and crashed into a delivery truck with cases of bottled water. The delivery truck crossed the median and slammed into the bus near the Munroe Road flyover.

The drivers escaped with minor injuries while the women died inside the bus. The accident caused a massive traffic pile-up. Hundreds of bottles of water were scattered along the roadway. Tara had left home that morning to attend to business in Port of Spain when she was killed. Pundit Satyan Keso Maharaj told mourners the tragedy was unforeseen. “I was taken aback because this is something you only see in movies.”

Relatives described Tara as a devoted mother and caring woman who was loved by everyone. She was cremated at the Mosquito Creek Shore of Peace.

Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan was at the cremation site. He offered condolences to the family.

He said PTSC had reached out to the family. “One cannot ever be prepared to deal with something like this but the Ministry of Works has given the assurance that we will be there with the families.”